Live On Two Legs

Performer: Pearl Jam
Engineer: Brett Eliason
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: Pearl Jam: Eddie Vedder (vocals, guitar); Mike McCready, Stone Gossard (guitar); Jeff Ament (bass); Matt Cameron (drums). All tracks have been digitally mastered using HDCD technology. Personnel: Eddie Vedder (vocals, guitar); Mike McCready, Stone Gossard (guitar); Matt Cameron (drums). Audio Mixer: Brett Eliason. Photographers: Mark Atherton; Vito Costarella; Coby Schultz; Lance Mercer; Nate Williams; George Estrada; Kristin Callahan; Jeff Ament. After spending most of the '90s charting an independent course, Pearl Jam makes LIVE ON TWO LEGS its live debut after recording five studio albums. Recorded during a 1998 tour, TWO LEGS is an excellent representation of PJ's mid-'90s material. The urgent "Corduroy" opens this record and from here, the band is firing on all cylinders. Eddie Vedder shreds his voice on the primal "Do The Evolution" but sounds almost bored as he introduces "Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town" before giving it as heartfelt reading as he did on the previous song "Daughter." Former Soundgarden drummer and longtime friend-of-the-band Matt Cameron fills in behind the excellent interplay of guitarists Mike McCready and Stone Gossard, particularly on "Even Flow," a song that still sounds fresh despite being the oldest one in the set. NO CODE's "Off He Goes" has an easy-going tempo and guitar phrasing reflecting the prior year spent recording and touring behind Neil Young. Young is given further props with a slightly turgid reading of his "F*ckin' Up." LIVE ON TWO LEGS doesn't break any new ground, but does reverberate with a passion for music that burns deep within the soul of Pearl Jam.

Entertainment Weekly (11/27/98, p.81) - "...Despite the band's continuing self-importance and fuzzy-around-the-arrangments, this set of uptight anthems (`Corduroy,' `Better Man,' `Go') packs a post-grunge wallop..." - Rating: A- CMJ (12/21/98, p.24) - "...Lest these live versions come across as too faithful to the studio version, though, two Neil Young tributes....add an element of surprise and improvisation to an otherwise already impressive, rock-solid effort."

Pearl Jam strode the middle of the neo-hard rock road manfully with their angst-ridden anthemic tunes bearing echoes of 1970s riff-rock. They arrived as part of Seattle's grunge explosion, with a sound less "punk" than Nirvana and less "metal" than Soundgarden. Radio, MTV, and fans responded accordingly, making them one of the biggest bands of the 1990s. Eddie Vedder's intense, impassioned style marks him as one of the most affecting vocalists in modern rock, and the group's battles against corporate giants like Ticketmaster have shown them to be a true "people's band."

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